Bathroom Boutique courts BCC ire after fencing off road

Sunday News Reporter

SPECIALIST retailer Bathroom Boutique risks being heavily fined by the Bulawayo City Council for illegally fencing off Swindon Road, an access road in the Belmont industrial area, turning it into its own backyard, a development that has drawn the ire of neighbouring companies.

The fenced-off road is now being used as a makeshift junkyard for heavy metals and broken ceramics by Bathroom Boutique.

The blockaded area is now an eyesore.

Neighbouring companies that use the road have already written to the council, to express their displeasure, a reliable source in council revealed.

The council confirmed that it was seized with the matter.

“We received a complaint from the owners of one of the properties abutting Bathroom Boutique about possible blocking of Swindon Road, we sent our officers on site to check on that, and we have also engaged our survey section to do a tacheometry survey that will show the exact situation on the ground that will show if there are any encroachments and the extents of such encroachments and thereafter we will engage all parties involved and take appropriate action as we will then have the facts,” said the council corporate communications manager Mrs Nesisa Mpofu

The owner of Bathroom Boutique, Mr Sean Day downplayed the issue but said he was in the process of having the fence removed.

“Have you seen the gate it is hardly something to get excited about. Are we talking about the same gate? We have sectioned off an area outside our property to protect access to a storm water drain which runs into the canal on Bristol Road. This was done as people were dumping trash into it and it was being blocked and was becoming a health hazard. This is similar to the gates which have put up to protect the sanitary lanes in town. I hope this answers you and your sources’ allegations against us.

“It is not our intention to deny access to the neighbours, it was merely to protect the storm water drain. We will take down the fence if it is a problem. I have instructed that it be taken down. It is a process and all will come out,” he said.

The fence has since been removed, but neighbouring companies still cannot use the access road as there is a concrete pavement that blocks off vehicles.

The heavy metal junk and broken ceramics have not been moved despite the company being advised to do so more than a month ago.